1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of caches.
2. Description of the Related Art
Caches are included in systems to reduce the latency of read/write operations from data consumers such as processors and other devices in computer systems (where a data consumer reads data from the main memory in the system, and sometimes writes data to memory as well). Typically, a cache has a relatively small capacity compared to the main memory, and high speed memory is used to build the cache. Data recently accessed by the data consumer(s) is typically stored in the cache, in units of cache blocks. That is, cache storage is typically allocated and deallocated in cache-block-sized units. The cache blocks are address aligned to natural cache block boundaries in the memory address space.
In addition to caches, buffering is typically provided in the system, between the data consumer(s) and the cache and/or between the cache and the memory system. Buffers are used to temporarily stage data for transfer. Such buffers are often costly in both area and latency.